New Walthers Structures: Modern Gas Station and Strip Mall

[RSWController]

Not sure if this has been discussed but it looks like Walthers is expecting to release two new N scale structures in late January. The modern gas station, modeled after a Kwik Trip, popular in the upper Midwest, and a three store strip mall. They look good.

https://www.walthers.com/modern-gas-station-kit-08672f

[Rivet Miscounter]

Nice additions to N.  These "Super Stations" are everywhere these days.  In Texas and the lower midwest there is "Quick Trip" :-O and RaceTrack that both have higher end offerings and better customer service.   And the strip mall is also a very ubiquitous structure that should do well.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Very cool. Walthers has been on a role lately.

[basementcalling]

The gas station has decent kitbashing potential. 3D printing could supply more pumps, which are needed. Most of these stations have rows of 2 pumps, 4 on each side winged out to maximize access and use of space. The canopy seems more robust than the ones I see here in the Southeast, but that's an easy fix. Would look cool with LED lighting under it for a night scene.

Haven't seen the strip mall, but not overly excited by it.

Walthers strength in their Cornerstone line was the heavy industry modeling it allowed. Wish they would get back to that by offering their grain series. Maybe if these suburbia offerings sell well it will encourage them to go big again.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh *****, that Qwik Trip with slightly different paint might yield a good modern Wawa too.

For those of you unfamiliar, Wawa is my equivalent of a holy site.

[dem34]

Oh *****, that Qwik Trip with slightly different paint might yield a good modern Wawa too.

For those of you unfamiliar, Wawa is my equivalent of a holy site.

Now we all have everything needed to make a hoagie fest module.

[C855B]

Any link to the Cornerstone strip mall? The only "strip mall" I can find with Walthers' search is a minimalist Lionel-branded version.

[basementcalling]

Oh *****, that Qwik Trip with slightly different paint might yield a good modern Wawa too.

For those of you unfamiliar, Wawa is my equivalent of a holy site.

Yea, the building definitely puts me in the mood for a hogie. In fact, I'll be eating one in an hour for lunch.

[garethashenden]

Any link to the Cornerstone strip mall? The only "strip mall" I can find with Walthers' search is a minimalist Lionel-branded version.

https://www.walthers.com/modern-shopping-center-i-kit

There is also a new parking lot kit. https://www.walthers.com/gas-station-parking-lot-kit-25b861

[Missaberoad]

Nice... You could use a couple kits to make a convincing small town mall... (with the requisite vacant stores)

The gas station is tempting, perhaps a modern Era diorama with a Circle K 

[C855B]

Nice... You could use a couple kits to make a convincing small town mall... (with the requisite vacant stores) ...

My thought exactly. The exaggerated concrete parapets are primarily what makes it "modern". Replace those with a simple cap and cut down the arch façade, and it becomes a reasonable stand-in for small town strip malls going back to the '50s. Nice departure from the "old Eastern downtown" architecture that dominates the Cornerstone lineup.

I might add that the (evidently) included signage is wrong wrong wrong for modern strip malls. The lease agreements are very specific about conservative signage, usually allowing only backlit formed lettering. Leases for these kind of storefronts have been boilerplate about this for decades. Look around on your next time out and you'll see what I mean.

[wcfn100]

Oh *****, that Qwik Trip with slightly different paint might yield a good modern Wawa too.

For those of you unfamiliar, Wawa is my equivalent of a holy site.

Check your credits cards...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/19/business/wawa-credit-card-breach-trnd/index.html

Jason

[Mark5]

Not what I think of as strip malls ...

But, it is a nice model and a good representative of small mini retail centers that have been popping up since the late 60s in suburban areas and on the fringe of small towns.

The gas station should be good for 1980s on.

Mark

[C855B]

Not what I think of as strip malls ...

Compressed, per usual. However, since the compression isn't too much of a distortion of proportions, two or three end-to-end would form a dandy mall. Aside from cutting off the top façade, it wouldn't take that much additional bashing - subtract an end column now in the middle? - since the end walls of the married models would be roughly where normal firewalls would be placed.

Even only three storefronts in a newly-built common structure would be casually considered "the strip mall" in rural towns. As in, "I just heared that Joe is movin' his bait shop to the new strip mall."

[Missaberoad]

I'm thinking more along the lines of extending one side, turning the store front under the arch into a mall entrance (with a ubiquitous "MALL" sign) then adding a cornerstone store to one end... (Safeway, IGA or your smaller regional grocery store of choice)

Plant it in a sea of asphalt, Run the tracks behind and boom small town Canada/USA in a nutshell...

Pre Walmart, full of activity - Post Walmart, 1 or 2 stores left and a bunch of backwards signs! 

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